Moving forward with our roster management, it is only matter of weeks before talking about the elephant in the room will become fever pitch. Fan hero's and names such as Gutherson, Paulo, Lane, Matterson, Cartwright, RCG, Sivo with few backups like Asi, Lussick, Harper, Russell, Penisni and Simmonsson will all come under the coaches scrutiny. With Jason Ryles - Mr Rookie taking over the roster management, all these players are either looking at not being resigned, moved onto England / Another NRL club with freight being paid or positional changes to keep their NRL playing days alive.
Ryle's will be looking at youngsters, youngsters from all over the NRL and Union to draft into the Eels playing roster. It has already started with this season at an end, Ryles directive to Barrett. Start the Juniors lets see what they've got in first grade. Some have stood up - names like Charlie Guymer, Matt Arthur, Jake Tago, Lorenzo Mulitano, have been given a look. In weeks to come we may yet see second rowers Dan Keir and Jock Brazel, Prop Reece Alderton and even young back Ethyn Martin who has played fullback and on the wing when he returns from inury.
There is no doubt The Eels roster is ageing, ageing faster then a week old Bannana sitting in the fruit bowl, with that ageing comes a lack of speed in the backline, and a lack of stamina and firepower upfront. The NRL is littered with fast youngsters, backups at other clubs just waiting for their opportunities. Jason Ryles - Mr Rookie, this week will throw in his purple shirt as Bellamys PA man " Coaching Director" and fall head long into working out next years Eels Roster.
Players like Melbourne’s Sua Faalogo, Newcastles Fletcher Sharpe, Manly's Lehi Hopoate, Dolphins’ Trai Fuller, and Titans’ Keano Kini. All youngsters with talent and speed just waiting on their opportunity should be in Mr Rookies sights. Some under contract but hey contracts are there to be broken, when a first grade chance arises.
Talking of Broken, back to the biggest Elephant in the room. The King, The Dancing Gutherino, our Captain. He sits as the heartbeat of the team, a complete professional that has aged, his knee complaints have stolen his speed leaving a shell of a fullback. As hard as it is to put down an old dog, it is done out of love and concern, to minimise the pain and hurt they go through. So too its now time to put down Clint Guthersons fullback role within the team. At $950K for one more year, sadly the fullback job is now just out of reach. A move to centre is the only logical course of action moving foward.
Where his replacement comes from- only Mr Rookie Knows that. Zac Lomax has long put his hand up to become a Fullback, under McGreggors Dragons and under Flanaghans rule, Lomax had attempted and been rejected to become their fullback. Young Blaize Talagi a junior half has tried to manufacture the skills of a fullback, however is a long way off at the moment. As his manager parades him in front of Newcastle and St George decision makers this week there is no certainty that he will be an Eel next year. The powerbrokers Mark O'Neill, Ben Rogers and Sarantino need to have a hard look at the way contracts are given out in the new Eels system. Literally no other club would have given a Rookie NSW cup player a top 30 contract with a Player Option only in the first year. Its unheard of, but thats how the Eels power brokers structured Blaize's deal. Whether this changes and the go to player options in contracts is discarded as a strategy moving forward or whether O'Neill and Rogers find themselves the Elephant in the room and moved on is only speculation and guess work at this stage.
Having sat over the top of a last placed Eels team just 2 years after a grandfinal appearance reeks of incompetance and mistakes. Who in the Eels structure has the power or determination to clean them out is also unclear. This is really where Mr Rookie has been set up to fail. Perhaps the Board could do it differently this time and actually set the coach up for success, better structured and team orientated contracts that benefit the club would be a start. Unfortunately by the very fact they hired a Rookie coach indicates they are not ready to be told or confronted on these issues. A yes man in Ryles - I hope not. We need him to be more. Quitting the Storm this week goes a long way in showing that he is in charge. Lets just hope he knows how to tap players on the shoulder, is able to recruit and attract players of the highest calibre, and is able to influence and change the culture of player options in contracts. Seems a tall order for a Rookie, but thats exactly what is required.
One thing for certain is that next years roster requires a cleanout, deadwood and slow moving snow drifts will be no longer. Our team will look a lot different to this years team. The only certainties are Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown, Zac Lomax and J'Maine Hopgood will be leading the charge, with a new and invigorated centre by the name of Gutherson in support. A real team can be built around them. One good thing that we all know about Mr Rookie, is that he is defence orientated, an overhaul in defensive structures is definetly in the works. A new team, a new style is all in the works. Lets hope its enough to take us directly back to finals footy, because this fan has hated the last 2 years.
Replies
Great write-up Blue Eel.
Gutho is such a conundrum. If you line up our Top 30 and rated them in terms of effort - Gutho comes in at #1 each and every time. Yes, he's ageing and plays busted nearly every week, but the energy he brings is hard to quantify in terms of the value to the entire team. Hard to value - but we know without him in the current team we are almost guaranteed to lose (history shows us this is true).
And yet, it's hard to see us competing with the top teams if he's our FB - he just doesn't have the threatening speed or lateral movement. If we move him to Centre then we block a prospect (either Penisini or Lomax if they let him play his preferred position). I'm afraid that Gutho might be one of those situations where we have to go backwards to go forwards - and as much as it pains me, we might be better off sending him elsewhere which will impact us negatively in the short term, but will allow us to move forward with new plans and players with a longer shelf life. Top teams make hard decisions - Gutho is going to be one of ours.
We also need to be cautious of losing too much experience all at once. Compare Moses of 5 years ago to Moses of today - maturity counts for so, so much. Young squads make mistakes, they lack defensive resilience, they fade as the season goes on etc etc.
Lastly, I'd say that the biggest lesson we need to learn is how we got here in the first place. Squads need continual regeneration - you need to grow and buy the right kind of talent at the right time, and let go of the right kind of talent at the right time. We should never have needed this dramatic of a refresh but we let our roster dwindle by holding onto the wrong players at the wrong times. I'm sure the story will be that this was all BAs fault, but lessons need to have been learned.
I happy for them "O'Neil and Rogers" to share in the fault game with BA.
Remember when everyone thought we were doomed without Hayne , and how Hayne had been the only bloke keeping us in the competition etc etc etc. yeah at a glance all you saw was Hayne on the paddock, but behind the scenes his salary and ego was the anchor of bad culture. Guthersons our anchor. He's a divisive figure and quite simply not a good enough player. I'm quite surprised all the Anti BA squad aren't finally onboard with seeing that Fluffersons the problem him being BAs 2IC and all.
I think people are starting to come around Wiz. This year we havnt seen the Gutherino dance at all. 2 Trys all season for a fullback isnt a good season. Full of heart and effort. I hope he does well in the centres. If not he is going to be a very very expensive number 14
Hayne didn't put in half the effort Gutho does.
He didn't need to , he was 100x more gifted than Flufferson. Guthersons made a career out of footy simply by putting in enough effort to wallpaper over the fact he's not that gifted. Full respect to him for that . Hes had to work extra hard to put himself into the position he's been in for his career.
If he had Haynes ability with Guthersons work ethic there probably wouldn't have ever been a better player. But his ego far outweighs his ability and players like Moses know it. Lomax arriving won't make the situation any better . Lomax won't respect him , Moses is obviously also past taking orders from him.
Hes now at the point of his career where the naturally gifted players can survive and guys that need that little bit extra in the effort department just can't keep up physically.
Sadly a lot of truth. People point to Guthos try assists this year as him being exceptional. He has 9 assists for the year, most of them just a catch and final pass. Tommy turbo managed 5 try assists this weekend alone against the Tigers. Now thats exceptional, but i wouldnt mind Gutho having a few more then what he does.
It's not about energy, it's about having a fullback who shines in and out when needed. Doesn't override the halves, can accelerate and cause defence issues. Gutho has a lot of errors in him and sadly is to slow. I can't find any other position for him either. Plus on massive bucks and that type of money you expect them to take control of a game and win it like the titans one last week
There are a few youngsters that could be given a go this year. I have listed them all out based on their selection/performances in cup and what positions could possible be open in the FG teamlist.
Keir and Alederton are older so I would not give them a chance.
Thanks EA. Dan Keir has been made captain of the NSW cup Squad as well. I really rate Martyn.
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